The Solar Challenge PDF

# The Solar Challenge By Maggie McVeigh - My team's solar-powered car reached the finals in the World Solar Challenge, and we headed to Australia for the race. - Teams from all over the world were there. - Luckily for us, there were only four other high school teams. - Most of the other competito...

# The Solar Challenge By Maggie McVeigh - My team's solar-powered car reached the finals in the World Solar Challenge, and we headed to Australia for the race. - Teams from all over the world were there. - Luckily for us, there were only four other high school teams. - Most of the other competitors were universities or corporations. - To win, a vehicle had to travel 3,000 kilometers, or about 1,900 miles. ## The Race - The race was all about solar energy! - Each vehicle was allowed five kilowatt-hours of stored energy, but that's only about 10 percent of the energy needed. - The other 90 percent had to come from the sun, so weather definitely mattered. - According to the rules, we were allowed to drive 9 hours daily, with compulsory 30-minute stops at checkpoints along the route. - We charted the course. - To win, we would have to drive about 700 kilometers a day, close to 450 miles! ## The First Day - The first day we were doing well. - The college teams were beating us, but we were leading all the high school teams! - We were worried when clouds covered the sun for hours, almost draining our solar battery. - Fortunately, the sun came out again before we lost all our power. - The solar panels on top of the car started capturing the solar energy and recharging our battery, so we could keep going. ## Winning - Victory! We didn't win the overall race, but we had the most fun of all the teams. - The crowd roared its congratulations. - We'll definitely be back next year! # Technology for Tomorrow ## Drones can Monitor Livestock and Water Crops ## Agriculture - The agricultural industry is another example of a field that has benefited greatly from more drone usage. - Farmers already use drones to help conserve resources and to be more precise when it comes to irrigation. - Because drones can capture aerial photographs of crops from miles away, they could also be used to help farmers monitor crop health or identify the right time for harvest. ## Regulations - Regulations would kill this period of drone innovation. - Inventors and businesspeople wouldn't be able to create new drone services because regulations would shut them down before their ideas could be perfected. - Regulations also inevitably fail to keep pace with technology. - Drones will keep getting more advanced, and any regulations would be outdated instantly. - Finally, meeting regulations is costly. - Consequently, increased regulation favors large, established companies and shuts out smaller, newer companies with innovative ideas. ## Drones Help Our Society - Drones have great potential to help our society. - More regulation of them will only slow things down. - Why limit the ways drones can help? # Opinion Text ## Drones Help with Recovery - Drones can be very beneficial for disaster recovery. - In September 2017, drones played a huge role in recovery after Hurricane Irma hit Florida. - Drones were issued to help the Air National Guard survey areas with a lot of damage so they could decide where to help first. - Drones helped Florida Power and Light restore electricity. - Hurricane Irma also left six million people without power. - The company used forty-nine drones to assess areas that were still not accessible by vehicle. - Since the drones did not need to rely on conditions on the ground, they were helping just hours after the hurricane. ## Success because of the FAA - The only reason that these recoveries were so successful was because the FAA quickly approved the drones to fly in these areas. - However, if drones were unregulated, they could have been helping with relief right away. - In times of emergency, disaster relief aid organizations like the Red Cross accept volunteers right away. - Why not do the same for drones? # Technology for Tomorrow ## Leave Drones Alone By Max Prinz - There is no way to fairly regulate drone use, and any new rules would limit future innovation. ## Deliveries - Imagine this: it's the day of the party. - No one remembered to buy the cake and it's less than an hour until the guests arrive! - Thanks to new drone technology, a person could have a cake delivered to the party in less than thirty minutes. - Package delivery can be revolutionized with drones. - Drones can deliver more than just a forgotten cake. - A number of companies are already developing drones that can carry packages as heavy as fifty-five pounds. ## The Benefits of Drones - The benefits of drone use in our society outweigh the disadvantages. - Drones can do more good than harm ## Some Delivery Drones being tested can fly 75 miles per hour ## FAA Rules - The FAA requires almost all drones to be registered, and civilian drones must have an identification sticker. - Currently, drones can be flown only below 400 feet, and at least 5 miles away from airports. - These are good ideas, but more work is still needed. - Many new drone buyers might not know about the FAA's rules. - A training course and information about the regulations could be included in the purchase of each drone on the market. ## Software Update - One company, which makes a popular line of drones, introduced a software update in 2015 that prevents its drones from flying within a 15-mile radius of the White House. - This is a good first step. - This technology, known as "geofencing," polices the flying of drones. - Restricting flight in or near other locations, such as stadiums on a game day, might also be wise. ## Common Sense Needed - Usually, people get into trouble while flying their drones because they have failed to common sense. - Since drones don't come with a set of rules, that's to be expected. - As drones become more common, it is likely more people will start to understand the ways that drones can be dangerous. - But until that time, more regulation is needed. # Time Line of Drone Development - 1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first airplane - 1937: The first fully functional remote-controlled plane is presented - 2013: The fist affordable, easy-to-use drone is released - 2014: Firefighters in California need to stop fighting a wildfire many times because of drones. - 2017: A drone crashes into a store in New York City. Another accidentally hits a military helicopter. # Extended Read 2 ## Rise of the Drones - Drones are everywhere. - Once used only by scientists and government officials, drones can now be found in a variety of industries, performing a diverse set of jobs. - Read the following editorials on the rules regulating drones. ## Cage the Machines By Dang Nguyen - Drone use comes with a lot of risks to the public, so drones should be more regulated. ## Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are small aircraft that are controlled remotely by a person. - They are amazing pieces of technology; having the power of flight in hand is wondrous. - But this power needs to be regulated properly. - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expects drone sales to triple in the next few years. - That's a lot of buzzing in the future. ## Drones Can Collide - Drones can collide with other aircraft, endangering both those in the air and those on the ground. - For example, someone was flying a drone near a wildfire in California, trying to get a photograph. - Because firefighter helicopters saw the drone, they had to turn back for fear of a collision. - The rescue effort was then delayed.